This study focuses on the relationship between industrial clustering and innovation. It contributes to this literature by showing two empirical properties of the cluster learning process: first, that the structure of the knowledge network in a cluster is related with the heterogeneous distribution of firm knowledge bases and, second, that business interactions and inter-firm knowledge flows are not highly co-occurring phenomena. In particular, this paper highlights how the heterogeneity of firms’ knowledge bases generates uneven distribution of knowledge and selective inter-firm learning. This study has been based on empirical evidence collected at firm level in three wine clusters in Italy and Chile. Methods of social network analysis have been applied to process the data.

In this paper we investigate the relationship between location patterns, innovation processes and industrial clusters. In order to do this we extend a transactions costsbased classification of industrial clusters into a knowledge-based taxonomy of clusters, along the lines suggested by a critical revision of the main assumptions underlying most of the existing literature on spatially defined clusters. Our arguments show that the transactions costs approach and the innovation and technological change framework are broadly consistent, and that real insights into the microfoundations, nature, and evolution of clusters can be provided by these classification systems.

This paper is written as the first chapter of an edited volume on evolutionary economics and economic geography (Frenken, K., editor, Applied Evolutionary Economics and Economic Geography, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, expected publication date February 2007). The paper reviews empirical applications of evolutionary economics in the field of economic geography. The review is divided in four parts: the micro-level of the firm, the meso-levels of industry and network, and the macro-level of spatial system. Some remarks on evolutionary policy in regional development are added as well as a short discussion of empirical problems that remain. www.druid.dk ISBN 87-7873-218-2 1.

Based on a wide-ranging literature review, we argue that the information and communications technology infrastructure has not received adequate attention for its role in the development and maintenance of industrial clusters. This paper develops expectations for how firms in an industrial cluster make use of a public, broadband ICT infrastructure, particularly in support of e-commerce applications. We further address the question of whether ICT use, by enabling stronger ties to non-cluster partners, can weaken clusters. A case study of a successful biotechnology cluster in Denmark and Sweden – the Medicon Valley – is used to explore ICT use in a knowledgeintensive cluster context. We conclude that ICT use appears to strengthen rather than weaken the Medicon Valley cluster, and that firms located within a cluster appear to gain some unique advantages from their ICT usage that are not necessarily available to firms outside the cluster.

The literature on industrial clusters has not focused heavily on the role of the ICT infrastructure, nor on the potential implications of electronic commerce. In this paper, we examine the theoretical bases for bringing these research streams together, and develop expectations for how firms in an industrial cluster might utilize and derive benefit from a public, broadband ICT infrastructure, particularly in support of e-commerce applications. A case study of a successful biotech cluster in Denmark and Sweden – the Medicon Valley – provides a preliminary test of these expectations. Distinctions in uses and benefits based upon firm size are considered. A key finding is that small firms that would not otherwise be expected to gain from global ecommerce can rely on the cluster "brand " to enable trade with unknown and distant partners.

Abstract. The phenomenon of technological life cycles is argued to be of great importance in the development of regional clusters. New 'disruptive ' technologies may initiate the emergence of new regional industrial clusters and/or create new opportunities for further development of existing ones. However, they may also result in stagnation and decline of the latter. The term disruptive refers to such significant changes in the basic technologies that may change the industrial landscape, even in the shorter run. The paper examines the key features of a regional cluster, where the economic development patterns are quite closely related to the emergence of new key technologies.

this report has been requested by the UK Office of Science and Technology

This paper is about the role of MNE subsidiaries in the generation of knowledge and linkages in industrialising countries. It develops an original typology of MNE subsidiaries based on the nature of their global linkages. Then, it explores how this typology is connected with different mental models of MNE’s and discusses the impact of these two aspects on intra-subsidiary innovative activity and the formation of knowledge linkages at the local level – two important dimensions affecting subsidiaries ’ capacity to generate knowledge spillovers in host countries. Based on Argentinean data, the empirical analysis suggests that MNE subsidiaries engage in very diverse types of global networking. More specifically, the paper finds that the nature of such diverse global networks affects the local capabilities and the formation of knowledge linkages at the domestic level. In the light of this finding, we discuss the role of different types of subsidiaries on the generation of technological spillovers in host industrialising countries.

A considerable literature has focused on the critical role of business and industrial clusters found in cities and regions as drivers of any nations ’ economic health (Breschi & Malerba,

knowledge spillover and the emergence of new technology: the case of fuel